Listen to Arts & Entertainment writer Rajesh Srinivasan talk about Serge Gainsbourg’s Histoire de Melody Nelson on Houndbite.

Lucien Ginzburg, later and more commonly known as Serge Gainsbourg in households all around Europe, possessed an array of odd characteristics. He was a witty man who enjoyed satire and poetry. At the same time, Gainsbourg was also slovenly and perverted cad who, despite his unattractive appearance, would become France’s greatest playboy and marry one of the era’s most inarguably beautiful women, Jane Birkin. But above all this contradiction, he was a musical genius who would take Europe by storm with his deep, smoky voice, unique arrangements and controversial themes.

In his 20s, Gainsbourg worked as a painter and made money by playing in bars. Later, he made jazz and cabaret recordings, but he soon moved to vaudeville and pop. After beginning his affair with Brigitte Bardot, he started rising to fame. During this time, he recorded some of his most famous songs, including the childishly amusing “Comic Strip,” the hilarious “Bloody Jack” and the hammering “Bonnie and Clyde,” all of which were featured on his album Initials B.B. There were a number of music videos made featuring these songs, including this video of “Comic Strip,” which features two of the worst lip-syncing performances of all time.

“Comic Strip” with Serge Gainsbourg and France Gall

In the post-Bardot period of his life, Gainsbourg’s music began showing funk influences, as it did in his most famous album, Histoire de Melody Nelson. He would later dabble in R&B and reggae in Aux Armes Et Caetera, whose eponymous song was a reggae version of “La Marsellaise.” Throughout his career, his music was always diverse, though certain elements—including intriguing rhythms, lush orchestral instrumentation and almost-spoken lyrics—marked many of his works.

Gainsbourg’s most famous—or perhaps infamous—work is “Je T’aime Moi non Plus.” It was originally written for Brigitte Bardot, and indeed, a version with Bardot was recorded. Bardot’s voice gave the song an air of experience; however, the more famous version, recorded with Jane Birkin, comes off as more naïve. The love song features a strong keyboard melody, careful guitar riffs and perhaps most prominently, sexual breathing—so much, in fact, that in both recordings, Gainsbourg is rumored to have been having sex with his respective partner at the time.

In his later years, Gainsbourg received a reputation of being a lunatic, which probably wasn’t unwarranted since he had a number of unfortunate moments in the public eye. The most famous of these gaffes was with Whitney Houston on Michel Drucker’s show, where, in reference to Houston, Gainsbourg exclaimed, “I want to fuck her.” And although he did make his outlandish comments in France—where nudity and sex are barely censored—Gainsbourg’s reputation declined before his death.

Whitney Houston incident

Gainsbourg died on March 2, 1991, survived by his daughter, Charlotte, who is an actress, and his son, Lucien. Despite his eccentricities in his old age, Gainsbourg was given an appropriate farewell, and flags were at half-mast that day. He was praised by many, including French President Francois Mitterrand, who referred to him as a “Baudelaire” of the modern age. Air’s Nicolas Godin perhaps said it best: “He was a poet. He was a punk. He wanted to fuck Whitney Houston.”

There have been a few tribute albums released in Gainsbourg’s honor with varying success. But most of these albums—including the recent Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited, which featured Franz Ferdinand and Placebo—really just proved one thing: Only one person could play Serge Gainsbourg, and that person was Serge Gainsbourg.

- Raj Srinivasan

Image Source: Orble

Video Sources: YouTube

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